Chapter 7

Heather found that the color scheme continued through the house until she moved to the east wing, on this side of the manor, the color changed to a more crystal icy blue with a lighter brown floor. The blue went all the way to the ceiling which caused it to cast a reflection that reminded her of the one that came off of Eirwin's wings.

She was rather disappointed to see though that the manor appeared to be rather empty despite the fact that he was a dragon. Dragons were notorious hoarders and she had hoped to come across something that he hoarded in hopes of getting a better idea as to what type of person he was.

Instead though, there was a bookcase in one room that maybe had fifty books on it most of which seemed dusty and as though they hadn't been touched in forever. There had also been in one of the more light side rooms a few winter plants that she presumed must've been gifts by the bows that were tied around the pots. They seemed healthy even though it looked liked they hadn't been transplanted once.

About the only thing that she had come across that she felt would match the description of a hoarder were all the paintings that were scattered over the walls. Most of which depicted nothing more than what appeared to be a cold winter land similar to the one that she had seen outside of Eirwin's office or they had mountains. One rather large on displayed a lake which was completely glazed over with ice giving it an almost crystal appearance. Looking at it she could tell that it was probably a far more glorious sight to see in real life if it actually existed.

Wrapping the jacket more tightly around her, she came across a door she hadn't first noticed at the far end of the room. It almost seemed as though it was made to blend in with the rest of the wall. The knob was even done differently- it was small slit in the wall that was just large enough for one to stick their hand in to pull it open but not enough to stick out from the rest of the wall from the distance.

"Bingo." She breathed under her breath as she opened the door and found exactly what she had been looking for. The room that the door lead into was a dark blue ice color all over including the floor. Row upon row of book cases filled the walls with a glass case covering the front of each one. One glance told her that he books in these cases looked as though they had been taken care of far better than those on the bookcase she had seen outside of this room.

Careful not to move too close and risk smudging the glass, she looked in at the books. Scanning over the first few, she sucked in a deep breath as she continued to read the titles. They were all first edition books! Rare ones that that. Heather had seen quite a few rare first edition books over the years that she had been studying various subjects but some of the ones in the room she hadn't even heard of before. Did that mean Eirwin enjoyed hoarding such books to read in his leisure time?

Moving further into the room, she noticed that it was sectioned off at the back part and blocked to lead into another room. One which held a large variety of gems. Some of which there were two to three of each kind of some of the rarest she had seen. Similar to the books, they were enclosed in a glass case that looked like it had been rather well taken care of.

She was half tempted to reach out and touch some of the gems if it wasn't for the fact that she feared it might anger the dragon that he invited her into his home and she couldn't keep her hands to himself and instead chose to touch something that was precious to him.

Although both Eirwin and Alfred had been gone for some time now, she didn't think that it would be much longer before they would be back at which point she could ask if it would be alright for her to examine them. Too bad she forgot her notebook at home today otherwise she would have taken notes of everything that she was seeing for review later.

Quickly after this lamentation however, she realized that she still had her phone on her and while she might not have been able to write down what she was seeing, she could certainly take photos as a reference for later. Eirwin probably wouldn't be too upset about that since she was only documenting rather than touching anything that as in the room.

Heather knew though that she would have to take the pictures rather quickly to avoid her phone malfunctioning due to how cold it was inside the estate. The pictures wouldn't be that great, but she opted for keeping the phone close to her body while she took as many pictures as she could in hopes of stopping it from getting too cold and locking up. Everything about today had certainly been worth her time even if she didn't end up getting the job.

"What do you think you're doing?" Heather froze in the middle of getting ready to take the next picture when she heard the annoyed voice coming from behind her. Glancing back she saw Eirwin back in his human form wearing what looked to be a huge, black, fluffy dressing gown. His hair looked damped as though he had just gotten out of the shower.

"Allow me to repeat myself again, I asked what do you think you're doing?" He said as he stalked further into the room. seemingly more annoyed than actually anger at where Heather was. She guessed that meant he was the protective type when it came to the things he hoarded?